This is reprinted from a mailing list called "Tao sexual yoga & aging:

hormones and health, essence and storing energy" from http://www.hpsonline.com To subscribe send a blank email to hpshealth@getresponse.com
Tao Sexual YogaEssence and Energy
"Throughout our adult lives,
our sexual organs and hormones exert a profound
and decisive influence on our thought and behavior.
They literally 'drive' men and women into each other's
arms in order to insure propagation of the species, and
this drive is so powerful and compelling that it
completely overrides the instinct for safety and
personal survival.
When 'in love', both men and women will defy death
and disregard social conventions in order to be
together and 'make love'.
'Love', of course, is a Western euphemism for 'lust',
which, despite its negative connotation in the West,
is regarded as a natural sign of health and vitality in
the East."
Hormones and Health
Chinese physicians pinpoint what they call the 'kidney
glands' (shen hsien) as the key regulators of sexual
potency, especially in men. These glands, which
straddle the tops of the kidneys like hats, are called
the 'suprarenal glands' in Western parlance.
The suprarenal, also known as the adrenal cortex,
produce a variety of hormones of vital importance to
various metabolic processes and biological functions.
In both male and female organisms, adrenal hormones
include small but physiologically significant amounts
of androgens (male hormones) and relatively minute
quantities of estrogens (female hormones).
These sex hormones, or Yin and Yang 'essences',
regulate the secretions of all other sex glands such as
the ovaries, testes and prostate, and also influence
secretions from the pituitary, pineal and thyroid
glands.
It is the balance, not quantity, of these microscopic
elements of Yin and Yang essence that counts.
Insufficient secretion of androgens in males, for
example, results in the loss of sexual drive and
potency. Excessive androgen secretion in the female can
cause such masculizing effects as beard growth and
breast shrinkage. Thus, a primary goal of Taoist sexual
regimens is the enhancement of male and female hormone
secretions in optimum balance.
Belatedly, Western science has also established

intimate links between sexual stimulation and hormone

production, and between hormone production and health.
In 1974, for example, the Max Planck Institute in
Munich, Germany, conducted tests on the physiological
effects of mildly erotic films on healthy males aged
21-34. After half an hour of viewing, 75 per cent of
the subjects showed marked increases in testosterone
levels in their blood, thereby establishing a clear
connection between sexual excitement and hormone
excretions.
Subsequent research revealed that men with high
testosterone levels, high sperm count and dense,
viscous semen were completely immune to many
communicable diseases and were highly resistant to
others, while those with low testosterone and sperm
count and thin, watery semen had only partial immunity
to diseases. It is also well known to Western medical
science that women have always enjoyed higher immunity
and resistance to disease, recover more quickly from
illness, and live longer lives than men.
According to the Taoist view, the ravages of aging are
caused by the progressive depletion of hormone
production and the dissipation of vital energy.
Since essence is the 'root' of the Taoist Trinity, with
energy as the 'stem' and spirit as the 'blossom', the
entire planet may be nourished simply by cultivating
the roots, which consist of blood bile, enzymes,
hormones and other forms of 'essence'.
Of all these elements of essence, hormones exert by far
the most profound and powerful physiological
influences, even in the most minute quantities, and, of
all Taoist regimes, disciplined sexual intercourse
provides the most direct stimulation to vital hormone
production and endocrine balance. While sexual
excitement remains one of the most effective means of
stimulation vital hormone production in both men and
women, women have the additional mechanisms of
menstruation and pregnancy to promote production of
sexual hormones, even in the absence of sexual
intercourse.
Men, on the other hand, have no such alternative
mechanism, and for them sexual intercourse remains the
best way to stimulate hormone production. As a person
gets older, it stands to reason that sexual intercourse
grows ever more important as a form of preventative
therapy against disease and aging.
When enhanced secretions from the male 'kidney-glands'
are preserved through properly disciplined intercourse
without ejaculation, they enter the bloodstream, travel
throughout the body, and prevent hair loss, skin
wrinkling, poor muscle tone, arthritis, rheumatism,
impotence and other disasters associated with aging.
For Taoists, the issue of sexual intercourse in old age
is not a moral or social one- it's a matter of life and

health.
"Guys, please reread that again, it's so important we
understand this."
To keep things in perspective, lets again verify this
fundamental Taoist view point with some solid medical
evidence from Western science. A recent study conducted
in America revealed that frequent sexual intercourse
considerably relieves the chronic pain of rheumatism in
elderly couples by stimulating secretion of cortisone
in the adrenal cortex. According to the Taoist view,
the adrenal cortex is the gland most directly
influenced by sexual excitement.
On the other hand, according to Western science,
excessive coitus inhibits adrenal functions in the
male. Since 'coitus' includes ejaculation in Western
medical and sexual terminology, we see that the Taoist
view that excessive ejaculation ruins the
'kidney-glands' in men is essentially correct.
Absorbing Essence and Storing Energy
In both men and women , sexual secretions contain many
pure, potent, biochemically active substances:
hormones, enzymes, proteins, vitamins and other
elements.
When female secretions are released into the warm,
moist environment of the vagina during intercourse,
they come into direct contact with the sensitive,
paper-thin skin of the man's blood engorged penis. Body
heat opens wide the pores of this stretched skin, and
the rhythmic rubbing of vagina and penis caused
biochemically significant amounts of female 'essence'
to be absorbed by the male. In fact, less than a
pinhead quantity of essential hormone suffices to exert
profound physiological effects upon the entire
endocrine system once it enter the bloodstream. In the
sexually excited male, blood courses powerfully through
the penis and picks up whatever hormones are absorbed
in the vagina by friction and osmosis. Similarly, the
spongy tissues of a woman's vagina absorb active
elements from her own secretions and from male semen
after a man ejaculates inside.
Despite its obvious logic, most Western physicians
still deny that such mutual exchange of vital hormones
takes place during sexual intercourse, even though they
fully acknowledge that 'germs' can be exchanged in this
manner. If syphilis, herpes and AIDS can be 'picked up'
through contact of sexual organs of diseased people,
then why can't hormones and enzymes be exchanged in the
same way in healthy people?
Look at it this way. If you crush several cloves of
garlic and place them on your thigh or abdomen or
anywhere else on the body, cover them with a warm, damp
cloth and rub them against the skin, then your breath
will soon smell of garlic! Garlic oil, which like

hormones is a highly concentrated substance, enters the

skin in microscopic quantities and is absorbed by the
bloodstream, which carries it to every part of the
body, including the lungs. If a tiny drop of garlic
'essence' can permeate the skin, enter the bloodstream
and cause 'garlic breath' far from the point of entry,
then a drop of sexual essence from male or female semen
should be able to do the same thing through the even
thinner, moister, warmer surfaces of the vagina and
penis, especially if one uses Taoist techniques to
prolong direct contact.
For women, frequent intercourse with orgasm is the most
efficient method of cultivating sexual essence and
energy. For men, frequent intercourse with infrequent
ejaculation is the key technique for cultivating sexual
essence and energy.
Furthermore, retaining semen during intercourse enables
a man not only to preserve and reabsorb his own
essence, it also enables him to prolong the act
sufficiently for his partner to reach full orgasm,
thereby releasing her most potent secretions for his
benefit. In effect, he 'kills' two birds with one
stone, preserving his own essence while releasing and
absorbing hers.
As noted earlier, a mans sexual responses are largely
limited to his penis (the four Attainments), whereas a
woman's occur throughout her body (Five signs, Ten
Indications). The same goes for sexual secretions. A
man's essence comes mainly from his sexual organ, but a
woman emits essence from all 'Three Peaks': tongue,
nipples and vagina. Men who practice Tao benefit from
all three 'libations'.
In Secrets of the Jade Bedroom, Peng-Tze points out the
medicinal benefits of the 'upper libation', but her
states clearly that only the saliva secreted 'during
intercourse' contains the magic elixir: "During
intercourse, if a man takes in a lot of the woman's
saliva, it will purify his stomach like medicinal
broth".
As for the potent therapeutic value of the 'middle
libation' secreted from a woman's nipples, Western
medical science has uncovered in the last 15 years
evidence that tends to confirm the traditional Taoist
view. It has been firmly established that mother's milk
contains powerful immunity factors secreted from
certain glands in the breasts which protect nursing
infants from a wide range of degenerative diseases. It
is logical to assume, therefore, that the ducts that
produce these immunity factors in a woman's breast may
be stimulated to secrete those factors by a combination
of intense sexual excitement and strong, prolonged
sucking of the nipples during intercourse, and that
these secretion form the 'Great Libation of the Middle
Peak'.
Regarding the lower libation, it should be noted that

Taoist have always regarded cunnilingus as an excellent

way to absorb this elixir, although they advise against
fellatio ('blowing the flute') owing to the risk of
uncontrolled ejaculation.
That covers cultivation of sexual essence through
intercourse.
Now let's take a look at the energy situation.
According to Tao, a brief burst of explosive energy
occurs when a man or woman reaches orgasm. Western
science has already established that, at the point of
sexual orgasm, human brain wave patterns alter
radically, literally putting the person into an
'altered state of consciousness'. Profound
physiological and electrical changes occur throughout
the system during orgasm, and a burst of energy is
indeed emitted. Partners may absorb one another's burst
of sexual energy at the moment of orgasm by following
three basic guidelines:
keep your head nuzzled under your partner's ear when he
or she ejaculates in order to avoid inhaling the 'muddy
breath' exhaled at that moment. Owing to the intense
'fire' that occurs in the lower abdomen during orgasm,
this burst of breath is regarded as a sort of waster
product.
Hug your partner very tightly and maintain maximum
surface contact between your skins. At orgasm, the
entire body radiates energy from its surface contact.
Press and rub the public regions closely together. The
biggest burst of sexual energy during orgasm naturally
occurs in the region of the 'Sea Of Energy' (chee-hai),
located below the navel.
Now let's take a look at the various possibilities for
exchanging essence and energy between Yin and Yang
during intercourse.
If the man ejaculates before the woman reaches orgasm,
she gains the benefits of both his semen-essence and
his energy, while he loses both and gains neither of
hers. If the couple ejaculates at the same moment, the
woman again gains the man's essence and energy, but the
man gains only her burst of energy, because he loses
his erection before it has had a chance to absorb the
essential secretions of her orgasm.
If the man controls himself long enough for the woman
to reach orgasm then suppresses his own ejaculation, he
absorbs both his own and her essence as well as her
energy, while she still derives the benefits of
reabsorbing a measure of her own sexual secretions. The
fourth and final alternative is for the man to permit
himself and ejaculation (when his emission schedule
calls for it) after his partner has reached orgasm, but
only after he has spent some time 'dragging the Yin
essence in through the Yang peak'. In this case, both
partners absorb each other's sexual essence and energy
in a perfectly balanced coition.
For a man who has thoroughly mastered the techniques of

ejaculation control, there are additional steps he may

take to facilitate absorption of female secretions and
to further stimulate reabsorption of his own
semen-essence.
The first method is to 'thrust inward fiercely but draw
outward slowly, thereby dragging the Yin essence in
through the skin of the Yang peak'. Swelling and
contracting the penis deep inside the vagina by
deliberately flexing the muscles of the penile shaft is
another highly recommended technique for promoting
absorption of Yin essence during intercourse. After the
woman has experienced one or more orgasms and is
thoroughly satisfied, the man should start thrusting
again deeply and rhythmically. When the pressure to
ejaculate mounts, he should stop and 'return the semen'
to his prostate, using methods introduced in chapter
7-Ejaculation Control (HPS on line highly recommends
that you purchase Dan Reids book, The Tao of Health,
Sex and Longevity and learn these methods to promote
your health and sexual prowess). When his semen is back
under control and his heart once again calm, he may
repeat this process again, three to five times. The
prolonged friction between Jade Gate and Jade Stem
facilitates absorption of Yin essence, while the
excitement of repeatedly approaching the brink of
ejaculation greatly increases a man's own internal
sexual secretions. Such serial retention's also
redirect the man's unexploded sexual energy inward and
upward. This can often be felt coursing up along the
spine as 'goose bumps' or as heat waves at various
points in the body.
Men should not attempt this method of 'pumping up'
extra essence and energy by repeatedly 'playing with
the fire' of ejaculation until they have first mastered
semen retention and established their own ideal
ejaculation frequencies.
Otherwise, they risk the loss of even more essence and
energy than normal owing to enhanced secretions when a
man is due for emission because it primes the prostate
with extra semen and thus increases the loss due to
ejaculation. It should be done only when semen is to be
retained. The old adage 'practice makes perfect'
applies to this and all the other methods used in the
Tao of Yin and Yang, and these practices must be
mastered step by step.
To borrow another adage, 'to the victor go the spoils'.
A sexually active man who is unwilling to hone his
sexual skills and correctly adjust his attitudes in
preparation for the 'flowery battlefield' of sexual
intercourse will, sooner or later, deplete his sexual
potency, dissipate his vital energy, lose his immunity
and foreshorten his life.
Such men become as expendable to the species- and as
useless to women- as drones driven from the beehive.